Michigan football prepares for strength-on-strength showdown with Wisconsin

Saturday is going to be a battle of strength vs. strength between Wisconsin and Michigan. The Wolverines, who have the No. 8 rushing offense in the country, averaging 253.3 yards per game, are going up against the stout Wisconsin defense. The Badgers have the top-ranked rushing defense in the nation, allowing just 50 yards per game. Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore talked about the challenges the Badgers' defense will present.

"They’re number one in the country. So they’re stout," Moore said of Wisconsin's run defense. "They’re big and stout up front. They’ve got guys that have played a lot of football, and they’ve got hard edges. They’ve got a transfer from Louisville, number 22, who’s really good, really good pass rusher. They’ve got another edge guy who we actually recruited, Sebastian Cheeks, number 15, who transferred from UNC, who was a linebacker that now is on the edge.

"They’ve got two guys in the middle that are about 6’4″, 235, stout run guys, and the safeties and corners all hit. It’s a typical Mike Tressel defense. Plays physical, plays downhill. On normal downs, it’s going to be open cover four quarters, go to cover three, play cover one on third down, and give you a whole bunch of different looks. So we’ve got to be sound, and we’ve got to be able to go execute our game plan the way I think we can."

Will Michigan unleash Bryce Underwood?

With Wisconsin having a stiff rushing defense, is this the time for Michigan to go through the air? The Badgers have the 89th-ranked passing defense, allowing 234 yards through the air. Coach Moore said Michigan will have to scheme up the defense and whether it's on the ground or passing the ball -- the Wolverines will have to do whatever it takes to win the game.

"I mean, you just have to scheme up their defense," Moore said. "Nebraska was the number five rushing defense in the country, so they made 287 yards. So I think it’s whatever you see on film, you’ve got to attack that structurally. You have to structurally figure out where the weaknesses in the defense are from a personnel standpoint, and you have to attack that. And that’s run or pass. So we’ve got to figure those out, and our staff has done a really good job to this point doing that last week, and they’ll refine that all this week. And then we’ll just go out there and execute."

Preparing for multiple QBs

Wisconsin, QB Danny O'Neil — Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

After a 2-0 start, the Wisconsin offense has really struggled. The Badgers have scored 24 total points in the last two weeks against Alabama and Maryland. The Wisconsin offense took a bit of a hit after landing former Maryland QB Billy Edwards Jr. from the portal, but Edwards Jr. has played in just two games with 16 total attempts.

This week, Edwards Jr. is trending towards not playing, but Michigan will have to prepare for the chance of the former Terrapin playing, along with the chances that Danny O'Neil starts once again.

"On offense, Coach Grimes does a really good job, and he’s done a great job," Moore said. "Kansas, BYU, watched him, actually took plays from him, took a trick play from him. Unbalanced, shifts, motions, all those to get your defense off balance and get them not aligned. He’ll change up the tempos, mostly huddle, but they’ll change up the tempos on what they do. And then obviously, Billy’s an experienced kid that’s played a lot of football, and he can make plays with his legs. He can make plays in the air.

"And then O’Neil is a kid that he was a starter at San Diego State last year and came in here, and now he’s playing for them now. So you’ve got to prepare for both of them, and you’ve got to be ready for either one of them that’s in the game. They’ll be hyped up to come in here. Whenever you play Michigan, that’s what it is. We’ll be ready for it as well. So our guys are just preparing for whatever we’ve seen on film and however we think they’re going to attack us, but we’ve just got to go play our type of game."

Will Michigan unleash Bryce Underwood?

Preparing for multiple QBs

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